Switzerland: Speech of Swiss Falun Dafa Association at the Press Conference in Bern

Good day everyone!

Today on July 20th, we assemble in Bern because it is the third anniversary of the persecution against Falun Gong by the Chinese government (Jiang's regime).

Besides, we want to call on the Swiss government to help remove the prosecution against four Swiss nationals and twelve Hong Kong practitioners, because they are guiltless.

Of course, in this speech we want to talk about the persecution, as well as Jiang's regime putting pressure on Europe and international governments. In addition, we still want to tell you that we will continue making efforts until the end of persecution against Falun Gong.

Let me now briefly account the development of the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners.

Because Jiang gave an order to kill Falun Gong practitioners without mercy in March of 2002, four Swiss practitioners were denied entry into Mainland China. The four Swiss nationals decided instead to stage a demonstration in Hong Kong. This peaceful demonstration did not violate any of the Hong Kong laws. At the moment Hong Kong is still under the English common-law system inherited from British rule.

On March 14th 2002, four Swiss Falun Gong practitioners set up a small sitting demonstration in front of the flag podium of the Chinese Government Liaison Office. [ed. note - They were unexpectedly joined by 12 Hong Kong practitioners.] They held up a banner on which were written the words, "Jiang Zemin Stop Torturing and Killing." The Hong Kong police quickly interfered with the demonstration and accused the 16 practitioners of public obstruction. Some of the practitioners were even charged with opposing national sovereignty. They are likely to be sentenced to two years in prison.

The prosecution started on June 17th and should have lasted for only 11 days. Now five weeks have gone by, and the prosecution still continues, which makes us doubt the neutral stance of the judges.

We Swiss Falun Gong practitioners protest the prosecution against the sixteen practitioners. Therefore, we will march to the Chinese Embassy to stage a protest there. Our purpose is to hand in a letter to the Chinese embassy, urging the Chinese government to respect the policy of "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong and to remove the prosecution against the sixteen practitioners. We also hope that the Swiss government can speak out for the prosecuted practitioners. The longer the prosecution lasts, the more vague is the justice for the practitioners, that is enshrined in the Hong Kong Constitution.

Jiang is putting pressure not only on Hong Kong but also on Europe and countries around the world. Now let us talk about a second point.

Even in Switzerland, we can feel the pressure from Jiang. We are followed and photographed by the Chinese secret agents. Maybe everyone here still remembers one article in "Daimanche. ch" [a Swiss newspaper]. This article reported that during the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the permission to hold a peaceful demonstration in United Nations Square in Geneva was cancelled.

Another example was the existence of "black list". Some travel agencies and every airport customs received this "black list". If Falun Gong travellers from other countries (like Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Britain, France, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Canada and USA) plan to go to the country that Jiang will visit, they are not able to buy tickets or get a visa to that country.

For example, in early June, Falun Gong practitioners were denied entry into Iceland; at the end of June, Falun Gong practitioners were refused entry to Hong Kong. Some of them were even treated in a violent way. A lot of them were abused and not allowed the chance to defend for themselves.

Besides the "black list", we observe that many countries even feel direct pressure from Jiang. For example, Falun Gong practitioners were refused visas and the Chinese government refused to validate their passports. Furthermore, practitioners were physically attacked by the officials from the Chinese Embassy, one businessman was expelled from Shanghai, one Australian enterprise was threatened by Jiang's regime, an appeal was banned in Latvia and in Denmark a whole family was interfered with. We have news reports about all of these examples.

Generally speaking, in the past three years, Jiang's regime has been putting pressure on worldwide countries for the purpose of opposing Falun Gong practitioners.

It has been three years from the July of 1999 to the July of 2002. The persecution has lasted for three years and so has the courage of practitioners. However, this is three years too long.

Now let us talk about the final point: Why is there this persecution?

In early 1999, according to one Chinese official report, about seventy million people from all walks of life (such as soldiers, intellectuals, scientific researchers, workers, and party members) were practising Falun Gong. At that time, there were ten million more Falun Gong practitioners than communist party members, which made the narrow-minded dictator feel threatened. Immediately Jiang made a decision to "eradicate Falun Gong" though Jiang already knew that Falun Gong is based on the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance."

Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese cultivation method. Its gentle-moving and harmonious exercises improve people's health and teach people to live their lives by the universal principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." Through cultivation people gradually feel extreme harmony in their selves and their surroundings. Living by the requirements of cultivation and looking inward for the source of conflicts, practitioners always think of others first and make efforts to be good persons.

The firmness and courage of worldwide practitioners illustrate that the persecution is doomed to end. Three years ago today, Jiang Zemin announced that Falun Gong would be eliminated in three months. Now three years have gone by. In these three years, Jiang has manipulated every political power in every possible way to persecute practitioners and to violate human rights.

In Canada, Australia, Ireland and other parts around the world, the imprisoned practitioners were released only through the continuous efforts of governments, the United Nations, members of parliament, non-governmental organizations, and kind and righteous people. Of course, international media also made great contributions to their release because the media tried their best to report the facts of issues.

We thank our government, our members of parliament, non-governmental organizations, and human rights organizations for their support. We still need to work hard together to stop the persecution.